Little League World Series: Gresham will savor the memories after final game

View full sizeThe Associated PressLugazi, Uganda's Daniel Alio, left, tags out Gresham's Hunter Hemenway after Hemenway tried to score on a wild pitch in the fourth inning of a consolation baseball game at the Little League World Series, Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2012, in South Williamsport, Pa. Uganda won 3-2.

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. -- Uganda manager Henry Odong picked up Gresham's
Devon Bratcher in one arm and Brett Falkner in the other, carrying the delighted
baseball players as thousands at Lamade Stadium stood and cheered.

Gresham did not win its final Little League World Series game Tuesday, but
Uganda sure made it feel like a world championship winner afterward.

Greg Mehlhaff struck out eight and went 2 for 2, but Uganda scored three
runs in the fourth and fifth innings while rallying for a 3-2 win in the final
Series consolation game.

Gresham went 0-3 at the Series but that hardly mattered. Following the
game, Gresham and Uganda players stood arm in arm and held an impromptu meeting
at home plate. It is that kind of memory that Gresham players will remember far
more than the games as the years go by.

"They are our friends," said Uganda's Ronald Olaa, who scored the go-ahead
run on a fifth-inning wild pitch. "We were talking and congratulating each other
for reaching this level because many teams have tried to reach this level, but
they didn't."

Gresham did and in doing so made history, becoming the first from its
Little League to do so. It won district, state and regional championships,
fighting back after losses in the final two. Finishing 0-3 does not matter. That
Gresham was here does. And being one of the country's top 8 teams makes for
quite a summer story.

"We're one of eight teams in the U.S. playing baseball and that's special,"
Gresham manager Jason Trickel said. "I never expected to get here but it's a
dream come true for myself to be coaching in a situation like this. We've just
been taking it all in."

Gresham went ahead 2-0 Tuesday when Hunter Hemenway hit a two-run triple
down the right-field line. Hemenway did a nice job with the outside pitch,
slamming into the corner after Mehlhaff and Tyler Pederson had singled.